Clean Budget Coalition Opposes FY 2017 Appropriations Riders

Clean Budget Coalition Opposes FY 2017 Appropriations Riders

We, the undersigned organizations, write to ask you to oppose any FY 2017 appropriations bills which include inappropriate ideological policy riders.

Appropriations bills have been used before to undermine essential safeguards through “policy riders” – provisions that address extraneous policy issues, and are slipped into appropriations bills to win approval as part of must-pass funding legislation. Last year, hundreds of these policy provisions were proposed as a part of the omnibus process, and in this year’s budget process some members of Congress have already started to insist on inappropriate riders.

Ideological riders are measures that the public opposes, and that the President would likely veto as standalone legislation. The American people support policies to restrain Wall Street abuses and ensure safe and healthy food and products, to protect our air, land, water and wildlife, to ensure safe and fair workplaces, to prevent consumer rip-offs and corporate wrongdoing, to create fair rules of the road for our campaign finance system, to provide access to justice, and to ensure continued access to vital health care services.

Inappropriate riders are intended to advance the priorities of special interest donors and supporters, and they have become the “new earmarks.” However, in many ways, they are actually far worse than the old district-specific earmarks, because they have vastly greater reach and nationwide consequence for the American people.

We urge Members of Congress to oppose flawed funding proposals that include ideological policy riders. We further urge the administration in the strongest possible terms to oppose any funding bills that have such riders, whether moving via regular order or as part of a funding package.

Sincerely,

Advocates for Better Children’s Diets

Alaska PIRG

Alliance for Justice

American Association for Justice

American Association of University Women (AAUW)

American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFLCIO)